52 Ancestors Week 10: Strong Woman

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 10's theme is "Strong Woman." March is Women's History Month. Let's celebrate by remembering the strong women in our families. The ancestor who comes to my mind first is my great-grandmother Melzena Kelley Ramsey, who lost her first 4 children in a span of only 6 years. She went on to have 5 more children, all of whom lived to adulthood.

Did you expect a Wonder Woman reference? 

Let's kick March off by going higher, faster and further with a discussion about a strong woman. Unlike Captain Marvel, the lady I am going to talk about wasn't played by Brie Larson and did not go toe to toe with Thanos in last year's Avengers: Endgame. She did appreciate my love of comics books, though.

Nonna!

This week I'll be focusing on my paternal grandmother, Olympia Carrabs. There have been several strong women in my family history. I figured it was a good time as any to talk about her. On April 23rd, she would have been one hundred years old and she lived quite an amazing life now that I think about it.

She was born on April 23rd, 1920 to Italian immigrants, Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione in the city of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Olympia was named after an older sister who unfortunately passed away in 1913 shortly before the family decided to pull up stakes and move from Gesualdo, Italy to Haverhill. Olympia was the youngest of five and you never would have guessed it because her sisters were always at her house. ALWAYS!!

Seriously. Every time we went over one or more of the sisters were over or were just arriving for a visit. Her house became the go-to spot for the family. It was a very nice house and since the sisters lived nearby, commuting to the place was very easy.

Olympia Carrabs, class of  '35

The reason why I picked my nonna to talk about this week is because to me she always was a strong woman. I'm not saying my other grandmother wasn't because she totally was. It's more that Olympia tended to be a very caring person. As you can see from the yearbook clipping, her classmates seemed to think very highly of her. She really did have a smiling face and a good sense of humor despite everything.

Growing up in Haverhill in the 1930s had its share of hardships. She was a girl trying to get an education at a time when women were told to stay home and raise a family. That was it. End of story. She never settled for that and after marrying my grandfather, Marco  in 1946 she started working for Western Electric as a supervisor. Western Electric later became AT&T.

That's right. She was a supervisor at a phone company. That was a big deal in those days. I sometimes wonder if she would whip Comcast into shape for all the good it would do. Ultimately, she retired from the phone company in 1982. I never really knew why. I never asked because it wasn't my place. Then again, 1982 was around the time my grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer. So, perhaps she decided to look after him? I'm not really sure.

Gee, I wonder who that adorable baby is. ;)

When my brother and I were growing up, Grandma Ollie was your typical Italian grandmother. She was always an example of a strong woman. There was no other way to describe it. Ollie was smart, funny, sophisticated and while she loved to cook and entertain she never really felt it was an obligation.

Despite her husband passing away in 1983, Olympia persevered and had an amazing amount of support from family and friends alike. Olympia was a person who loved life and her family. I think that's one of the main reasons everyone was over at her house all the time.  Even when we brought her over for Christmas Eve, she constantly appeared to have a great time and always wanted to make sure you were having one, too. That's just the kind of person she was.

Olympia passed away in 2002 shortly before I was going to graduate from college. To this day, I remember my grandmother as being the woman I described here. She was strong at a time when many women were told to basically be housewives. She may not have broken down barriers or glass ceilings. But, she definitely made her mark. She was a great teacher to my brother and I. Through her we learned a lot about Italy and some Italian. There's so much I want to say in this blog and I really don't want to leave anything out.  My grandmother was without a doubt a strong person because she cared about people, worked hard and sacrificed so much to make sure that everyone was happy.